When Cloud Smiles
by Dakota Ciel
Summary: Shirotatsu Hane was sent to Japan to assist the Vongola X and his family. Forced to fight against her loved ones, she tried to mend their relationships while surviving in Hibari's home. The future her faced the same challenges, trying to protect the Vongola from her evil brother.
1. Chapter 1: Hibari

**01 Hibari**

Hibari Kyoya's dark blue eyes met those light violet ones. His sight moved across the delicate face. Shirotatsu Hane got nervous and swallowed hard. She took a quick glance at Reborn, who was at her side, and tried to think of an escape route. Her right foot started to move backward very slowly.

Unfortunately, Reborn was an experienced mind reader. He whipped out a hammer labeled "10ton" out of nowhere and clashed it on the floor, only half an inch from crushing her foot. She pouted and returned her foot to where it was.

"So what do you think, Hibari? It's every man's dream to have such a beauty living in his home." Reborn grinned. Hane winced and didn't even feel slightly complimented. This was the first time she met Hibari Kyoya, but she could tell by his dangerous scent that this was not a man that would treat her well simply because she was beautiful. And she was fabulous at sensing danger.

When the No.1 Hitman returned to Italy last week, her life became total disaster. He hunted her down with his beloved CT-75 for a whole day in order to, quote, "Test your ability". Then he decided that she was too slow, too dumb and too lazy and forced her into his demonic training. The 9th generation Vongola guardians, who all claimed to love and care for her very much, made up all kinds of ludicrous reasons and hid in their rooms for three days, ignoring her SOS signals.

Hibari laid his eyes on Reborn, and smiled wryly, "What are you up to, infant?"

"She'd improve a lot staying in your home. I need her to change her habit of running away from things. You'd be interested in fighting her, I assure you. She is still an underachiever for a mafia member, but I have to say that she avoids danger well."

Indeed, Hane was probably the best "survivor" one could find in the world.

Since the age of three, her brother started training her. She ran away from home when she was five but broke into another hell. Constantly exposed to the menace of daggers, sword and flames, had she not escaped from them, she would have stayed in the hospital for months, if not dead. With excellent reflex, she could definitely save her own life in most circumstances, yet she was not good enough at combating. At least not good enough for Reborn.

"Reborn, how could you make such a big decision for me." Hane protested. Her instincts told her that living with Hibari Kyoya would put her life at grave danger.

Hibari went silent for a moment, then nodded and decided her fate. Reborn kicked Hane's luggage into the house and turned to her.

"Want me to kick you in there too?"

"No thanks. I'm good."

Hane sighed and understood that this time, she could not get away with this. She stepped into the house. Hibari Kyoya gave a slight nod to Reborn, and closed the door.

"Your room is first door on the left." He pointed at the corridor. "Go unpack your stuff as soon as possible. We need to talk."

Five minutes later, they were sitting in the living room together.

"First of all, stay away from my room." Hibari started, and Hane agreed. She could not imagine how boring his room would be.

"Second of all, you're getting up at 5:30 each morning, wear your uniform properly, and go to school with me at 6:15—I have already put two sets of Namimori Middle School Uniform in your room."

"5:30?" Hane laughed. "I don't get up at 5:30. And I've already read the school rules. Lessons start at eight."

"The prefects have to arrive at school earlier. And I expect you to comply with my daily routines since you're staying at my place." Hibari replied nonchalantly. "I've heard that you can't cook."

"Bleh, of course I can." She denied. "I know that salt is the white non-tinkling solid in the kitchen." Though she had to admit that she spent a fair amount of time to remember the fact and a loud swordsman had been exasperated about that.

"…I'll cook. You're responsible for tidying the house."


	2. Chapter 2: The Rain Guardian

Hane's room was brutally banged open. She was immediately awaken. Alarmed, she grasped the dagger under her pillow—she hadn't done that for at least seven years.

Apparently she was not fully awake yet. With eyes half-opened, lips pursed and wrinkled pyjamas, her smooth white hair was a little messy. Anyone who saw her then would be stunned by her beauty and at the same time felt sympathetic towards her tired little face, but Hibari Kyoya was not just anyone.

"Get dressed, herbivore." Hibari turned on the light. Hane squinted at reflex, and took a glimpse of the clock—exactly half past five.

"Good night." She dropped back to the bed, covering her head with the sheets and obviously forgot everything Hibari said yesterday. Who was he kidding? She was still having jet lag.

"Get up now, right now, immediately. Or do you want me to bite you to death?" Hibari dragged her from the bed.

"You sadistic devil." Hane was never one of the meek, vulnerable girls, and her temper got worse due to deprived sleep. She seized the dagger and swung it towards Hibari. He tilted his head and avoided her attack easily. Then he clutched her collar and flung her onto the ground, propping his tonfas against her throat. He glanced at her with annoyance.

"Fight me, and if you win, I'll let you skip school today. Or else go wash up now."

"I hate you." Hane gritted her teeth like an angry cat, and unwillingly headed towards the bathroom. As she had just woken up, her fighting ability had dropped to around 30% the original. There was no way she could have won.

"This is the new transfer student from Italy, Shirotatsu Hane. Minna-san, please take good care of her." The class teacher of 1-A introduced the yawning girl with a smile. He asked her to sit beside Yamamoto Takeshi, and she sort of floated towards the seat soullessly. Apparently she was in a half-asleep mode.

"Hi there! I'm Yamamoto Takeshi. Nice to meet you." Yamamoto greeted her with his usual bright smile.

Hane remembered Reborn's comment on this boy—optimistic, insensitive(since he didn't really get what's going on). Compared to Gokudera Hayato, he was not like a mafia member at all.

But then she thought, she probably shouldn't judge Yamamoto since Sawada Tsunayoshi was a bigger non-mafia-like person. She doubted if any assassin would threaten him. She guessed most of them would never identify him as Vongola's boss.

"Shirotatsu Hane. Nice to meet you too." She smiled back.

"You're from Italy as well? We already have a transfer student from Italy this semester." He pointed at Gokudera. "You see the silver haired guy? That's Gokudera Hayato."

"Well, actually, I know Gokudera. We were both sent here by Reborn." Hane confessed.

"You know that infant who lives with Tsuna too?" Yamamoto was surprised.

"Yeah…I'm kind of a member of Vongola too." Hane whispered.

"Oh! I see you're playing that mafia game as well," replied Yamamoto happily.

"Right." Hane finally got to know what "insensitive" meant.

They both sounded out the math class. Hane found it too simple, and Yamamoto only had baseball in his head. Luckily, the teacher's attention was mostly captured by the bombs sticking out of Gokudera's pocket. Plus Hane was good at sleeping with her eyes open, and she would occasionally move the textbook to cover Yamamoto's tranced face.

"Hello Gokudera. Haven't seen you for so long." Hane waved at the delinquent.

"I didn't think you'd be here, Shirotatsu." Gokudera answered.

"Ano…Shirotatsu-san, I am Sawada Tsunayoshi." Tsuna was confused. "You know Gokudera-kun?"

"I've seen him a couple of times in family parties. You can call me Hane." Hane replied. "Reborn wanted me to be trained here, and at the mean time see how you and your guardians are doing."

"Training? Who's your mentor?" Yamamoto placed his arm on her shoulder. "And you know about the Varia?"

"…Yes, I know them." Hane ended the topic with a short sentence. "Reborn hasn't told me who my mentor is yet."

"You're mentor is Dino." Reborn abruptly appeared from the wall. Tsuna was startled and backed off. Reborn hopped towards Hane and continued. "Same as Hibari."

Hane frowned and turned away from Reborn.

"Hmmm…horned-herbivore, you got a problem with that?"

"Hi…Hibari-san?!" Tsuna looked like he was about to faint. Hibari glared at him for a second and said to Hane, "Follow me." Then he left the classroom.

"I swear I would steal his prefect armband someday." Hane grimaced at his back, but still waved goodbye and Tsuna and his guardians and caught up with Hibari.


	3. Chapter 3: Don't count on Dino

**03 Don't count on Dino**

"Yo, Hane-chan! You got taller!" Hibari and Hane reached a vacant classroom—well not exactly vacant as Dino was there crossing his legs, sitting on the teacher's bench. He cheerfully greeted Hane and scruffled her shimmering white hair with a warm smile. "But from what I've heard from Reborn, you don't seem happy having me as your mentor, do you?"

"Dino-nii!" Hane rushed into his open arms. "I'm glad that you're my mentor. What I DON'T like is that I have to train with the bad-tempered guy." Added with a frightful glare towards Hibari.

"Oh I see now you're voicing your distress out. Think you're safe with bucking-horse at your side?" Hibari sneered.

Hane ignored him and sighed. She lowered her head, with struggles in her light-purple eyes. "I don't get why I have to join the training given that I'm not one of the guardians. I…I don't want to fight them."

"You have to get stronger, no matter if you're joining the ring battles or not." Dino gently stroked her head. "I hope Iemitsu could bring us some good news."

"I don't think that's possible, given that Nono is probably in their hands. The battles are bound to happen." Hanes shook her head.

"Your responsibility is to prevent damage as much as possible." Dino took her hand. "Alright, I think Kyoya's gonna kill us."

Hibari chuckled and brought the conversation back to what he knew of. "What's your weapon, horned-herbivore?"

"I don't have a regular one." She pondered. Then she noticed the whip hung at Dino's waist. "Dino-nii, you're great at using a whip, right? How about you teach me that?"

"Really?!" Dino threw his arms around Hane enthusiastically and rubbed his face over hers. "Its awesome! Kyoya never let me teach anything. He just wants to fight me."

"Since you speak of that." Hibari grinned, and slashed his tonfas against Dino's cheek swiftly. Dino barely dodged it before letting out a wail and tripped onto the floor. That was when Hane realized that his subordinates were not around at all.

"Hibari-san, you can't fight him now! He's a wimp without his subordinates." She stood between Dino and Hibari and stopped the latter from murdering his own mentor.

"…Thanks, Hane-chan." Dino staggered in distress as she pushed him out of the classroom. He wasn't sure if he should be thankful of Hane's protectiveness or feel frustrated by her honest choice of words.

"Mmmm…Hibari-san, did you get me here just to see Dino-nii?"

Hibari was slightly disappointed that he could not fight Dino Chiavarone. Yet he decided not to bite him for death for just this once as he should probably put preventing the girl from disrupting the school as priority. He reached for the little booklet in his pocket and tossed it to Hane.

"Memorize it."

The puzzled girl opened the booklet, "Do not damage anything in school area. Do not bring students from other school to Namimori Junior High. Do not disobey the Disciplinary Committee…These are not school rules! These are rules designed to meet your needs!"

"That's right. Are you disagreeing?" There came the tonfas.

"…No." Though what she wanted to say was "trash".

"Good. I don't like clawed herbivores. Horned ones will do." He patted her head in a seemingly good mood. "Go home on your own today. I've got things to do after school."

Then Hane stretched and went back to class. Tsuna apprehensively asked if she was hurt by the ruthless chairman of the disciplinary committee, and she assured him that everything was fine. Tsuna then looked at her with admiration because anyone who survived from Hibari Kyoya deserved to be respected.

Though Hane succumbed to Hibari's threat, that did not mean that she liked it. It's just that after all these years, she had learned that the standard of pride could be adjusted when in life-menacing situations. She cursed Hibari in her mind over and over again until the English teacher's voice interrupted it.

"How could you daydream on your first day of school, Shirotatsu?" She tapped Hane's desk with a marker and dragged her back to reality. "Answer this question."

"Tsk." Gokudera scorned with his legs placed on the table. The teacher was definitely not brave enough to punish Gokudera. That's why she chose Hane, who looked tender and harmless, to pick on.

"English is my second language. Is it because you're too old that you forgot that I'm from Europe?" Hane pointed out the answer easily and started to pour her discontent on the poor teacher. Gokudera laughed hard and kept saying words like dementia, elderly, ancient etc.

"Old…?!" The teacher was totally pissed off, but that could not scare the mafia-raised girl one bit.

"Gokudera-kun, do you think her hearing is so degenerated that she couldn't hear what I just said, or its because her memory doesn't last that long that she's already forgotten what I said?" The teacher was the perfect target for her to release her distress. There were two people in this world that she would try to hold back her anger: Reborn and Hibari Kyoya. It's best not to talk back at Reborn since its practically suicide to challenge a person so much stronger than she was. As for the latter, it's mostly because she would suffer a lot seeing him home everyday.

"Both are possible, but she could also be simply refusing to acknowledge the fact that time is flying rapidly away for her."

"Gasp. Does that mean we would have a new English teacher soon? I hope it's a younger, prettier lady."

Boom. And the teacher was defeated.

And don't expect Hane to feel guilty about it. It's not the first time she irritated someone so much that he passed out and was sent to the hospital.

"Gokudera-kun, do you know anything about Hane-chan?" After class, Tsuna muttered to Gokudera at the corner. "Like…was she raised in the mafia just like you were?

"Juudaime! I'm so glad that you're asking for my help!" Gokudera's eyes glowed with zeal. "I will tell you everything I know about her. I can even stalk her and report every second of her actions to you!"

"Hiieeee! There's no need to do so, Gokudera-kun!" Tsuna quickly turned down his offer. "I'm just a bit surprised that she's here. You know, she's neither a guardian nor an enemy."

"Well, I met her in a ball for Vongola's allies. I heard she lived with Nono's guardians." Gokudera rubbed his chin and tried to recall what people said in the party. "Most of the guests in the ball have seen her before. She must have been there a few times. My guess is that she's one of the guardians' daughter or relatives."

"If you want to know about her, why not invite her over, Dame-Tsuna."

"Re-Reborn?!" Tsuna was once again startled when an upside-down baby's face with sideburns appeared before his eyes. He protested, "Stop eavesdropping over people and bump out of nowhere!"

"It's important for a boss to know his allies and subordinates well." Reborn hopped onto the ground. He arrived at Hane's seat, talked to her for a minute, then Tsuna saw the girl walking towards him with an exhausted look.

"Hello Tsuna-kun. *Ojamashimas." Having listened to Reborn's "advice slash threat", Hane followed Tsuna, Gokudera, Yamamoto and Reborn towards Tsuna's home.

"So, Hane-chan, you are a member of Vongola?" Tsuna brought up the topic cautiously.

"Mmmm…kind of." Hane answered with hesitation. She practically grew up in Vongola. For nine years she was very well taken care of by Vongola, but she had never been on any mission. Not to say she was in fact a lineal descendant of another family.

"Lambo-san has arrived! AHAHAHAHAHAH!" As they had almost arrived at Tsuna's house, a kid in cow-suit was running from an alley not far away, followed by a pig-tailed little girl in chinese costume.

"Lambo! You should not run on the streets!" I-Pin tried to stop him but he kept on bouncing everywhere. She frowned and posed for her special skill. "Gyoza Fist!"

And she accurately hit Lambo. He fell onto the ground and started wailing—'Tsuna's home is not a suitable environment for children', thought Hane.

"Hold-it-in…..! You stupid pig-tail head, how could you do that to the almighty Lambo-san?!" He angrily pulled out a pair of sunglasses from his hair and put it on. "Rrrrrrrr!" Then he started chasing after I-Pin.

"Bro…..Broccoli-Fly monster!" She screamed! Sweat began to drop from her little head. The ninth Pinzu appeared on her forehead at an instant. She inadvertently held on to the leg of the person closest to her—Sawada Tsunayoshi.

"Oh no! Not Pinzu-timed bomb again!" Tsuna quickly tore her off of his leg and toss it around.

"We're having this thrilling little game again? Nice!" Yamamoto, as usual, gave a bright smile to I-Pin who was now clinging on his foot.

"Ahhhh Yamamoto watch out! It's dangerous!" Tsuna just couldn't let his friend get directly hit by the bomb. He plucked up his courage and dragged I-Pin off again when the countdown was up to three and tried to throw it as far as possible.

Yet he forgot there's someone standing at that direction—Shirotatsu Hane.

There was only one pinzu left on I-Pin's forehead.

And boom.

***Means Sorry for disturbing in Japanese**

**Next Chapter: Geniuses are never versatile **


	4. Chapter 4: Geniuses are never versatile

**Ch 4: Geniuses are never versatile**

Mists and ashes shrouded over Hane. Tsuna froze with a half-numbed, half-desperate expression on his face. He couldn't believe that he just murdered his new classmate.

"Hane-chan?" Tsuna softly called her name, with a slight hope that she was still alive.

"Ahemmmmmmc!" A series of cough responded. As the smokes faded, a completely safe Shirotatsu Hane was unveiled. She tried to cough out all of the dust that swarmed at her and complained, "How could you toss me such a dangerous thing, Tsuna-kun?"

"Hiieeee! Hane-chan, you're alive?!" Tsuna rushed towards her and checked if she had any injuries, yet all he could find was dirt on her face and uniform.

"I'm sorry." I-pin bowed and apologized.

"It's lucky that you threw I-pin at Hane but not anyone else, Dame-Tsuna." Reborn whipped out his 10-t hammer again and ruthlessly bashed it against Tsuna's head.

"Itetetetete!" Tsuna clutched his head in agony. But then something came up to his mind. "Wait, I don't remember I-pin's Pinzu-timed bomb being so…mild."

"Hane has the ability to dissolve energy." Reborn answered. "She doesn't have an attribute, or else Vongola could use another guardian."

"I think I should go." Hane sighed and looked at her uniform, which was covered with dust and burn marks. "I gotta take care of this mess before Hibari finds out I ruined the school uniform on the first day."

With Reborn's permission, Hane waved goodbye and promised she would visit Tsuna's home next time. She started walking to the direction of Hibari's mansion—or to wherever she thought was the direction of Hibari's mansion. She could get lost on her usual way home just because the decorations were slightly altered, not to say this was the first time she went from Hibari's home to school, and the first time she went from school to Tsuna's home. It was ridiculous to even think that she could combine the two already unfamiliar routes and figure out how to go from Tsuna's home to Hibari's.

Actually not recognizing directions was not a big problem, because one could always return to Tsuna's home and ask someone for help. Nevertheless, Shirotatsu Hane, with a weird mind that all geniuses had, could not find her way back to Tsuna's home after wandering around the community.

It's actually also not a problem if she could not return to her original position because one could always call for help. However, her weird mind once again acted against her favour and she could not even explain where she currently was.

"Hane-chan, I know there are trees, roads and walls around you." Hane chose Yamamoto Takeshi as her savior, yet he could not understand her description of her current location at all.

Beep.

And her phone went out of battery.

Hane sighed. She was so gonna be bitten to death.

On the other hand, Hibari Kyoya frowned at his simple, black cellphone. He called that horned-herbivore seven times yet the line had been dead. How dare she ignore his phone call?

Or was she in danger?

'First day in Japan and you got yourself into some sort of trouble. Yes, horned-herbivores are more troublesome, after all.' He thought to himself.

He very much wanted to go home alone. However, if she really got hurt, he would have to wait for weeks before training her and thus entertaining him. Plus he hated the idea of outsiders hurting students from his school. Not that he cared much about them, but it's like an infringement of his properties.

"Yo, Hibari!" An energetic voice broke off his ponder. Hibari turned to see Yamamoto Takeshi waving at him a few metres away.

"Have you seen Shirotatsu Hane, Yamamoto Takeshi?" Hibari asked cooly.

"Yes, Hane-chan was heading home." Yamamoto replied as Hibari winced at his over-intimate address of the girl. "She got lost so she called me, but I think her phone ran out of battery. Tsuna and I are looking for her right now."

"There is no such need. Get off the streets." Hibari ordered.

An hour later, Hibari was grasping Hane's wrist and dragging her along a rocky path in the dark. He was clutching her hard so its slightly painful, but Hane knew she was in the wrong and so tolerated. After ten minutes of torturing silence, Hane stammered,

"Ano…Hibari-senpai…"

"And now you're addressing me by 'senpai'?" He halted, turned and squinted dangerously at the smaller girl. "How could any person in this world wander one kilometer off after getting lost?"

"I'm sorry." Hane's eyes met his for half a second as she flinched and stared at the ground in embarrassment.

"I'll bite you to death next time." Hibari snapped.

They went back to silence and continued walking. Soon, Hane was intoxicated by a gorgeous sea of pink in front of her. Her eyes widened and her gait began to become lighter.

"Hibari-senpai." She cheerfully chanted.

"Yes?"

"Sakura is just so pretty! I love Japan."

"…..Kamikorousu!"

And Hane's scream echoed in the streets.

Dinner time-

Hane was sitting opposite Hibari, rubbing her new bruises in frustration. Kusakabe Tetsuya made them a simple dinner.

"Three things." Hibari elegantly finished a piece of pork and started. "First of all, you have no accuracy. You missed three of the five whips you tried to slash at me."

"I only learned how to use a whip for a couple of days a few years back then. Dino-nii hasn't taught me anything yet." She argued.

"Second of all, you have no strength." Hibari ignored her protest. "You hit me twice and it did not even immobilize me, or at least restrained my movements. Thirdly, I have to say you did a good job avoiding my attacks, but that doesn't help you in a fight unless you can outrun the enemy or unless someone is on their way to save you."

"I don't like fighting anyway." She grunted and finished her soup. She picked up a pair of chopsticks and struggled to get herself some vegetables.

"You don't hold chopsticks that way." Hibari frowned. He grasped her hand and moved her fingers to the right positions. Due to intense training, there was a thin layer of calluses on his hand. She could also feel that his hands were slightly colder than hers. That quite fitted his personality.

"Practise more." He ordered and tossed a piece of veggie at her bowl.

"Uh…Thanks." She held the bowl to her lips and used the chopsticks to swoop food into her mouth. Hibari frowned again. He realized he'd been frowning a lot since she got here.

"Make sure you clean up your uniform. And the dishes." Hibari stared until Hane unwillingly nodded, then went back to his room.


	5. Chapter 5: Reunion

**Ch 5: Reunion**

Hane was lying at the couch watching her favourite show, Mafia Wizards, when the doorbell rang. She reluctantly got up and went to the door.

"Ciaossu."

Hane saw a baby in suit in front of her. She wondered how he reached the doorbell.

"Ganauche~~there's a baby outside. Did you knock someone up?" Hane yelled back to the Ninth generation lightning guardian, who almost tripped as he walked down the stairs when he heard her.

"I'm not a baby, dame-Hane." Very unexpectedly, the baby took out a gun and fired at her. Her pupils dilated and in half a second, she dodged it by crouching onto the floor. The baby continued shooting as she somersaulted and used to sofa as her cover.

"Not too bad." The baby commented and returned his gun to his pocket.

"Reborn? Why didn't you say you were coming?" Ganauche was astonished to see the number one hitman visit their mansion.

"Reborn?" Hane peeked out of the sofa. She realized that Reborn only shot paint bullets at her since the white walls were now stained with colours. "YOU'RE Reborn? The best hitman in the world?"

Reborn didn't answer. He reached for his pocket and took out another gun. She recognized it. It was the infamous CT-75 used by the renowned hitman.

"Let's start testing you." He grinned and shot.

"GANAUCHE! VISCONTI! *TASKETE!"

The last scene she saw was Ganauche's face of pitiness as he returned to his room. The next thing she knew, she was running for her life.

"The green that trails Namimori . Not large not small, Nami is best . Always unchanging…"

Her vision blurred. She moaned at the annoying, a little off-tuned voice and opened her eyes. Then she saw a yellow bird at the side of her pillow, producing the noise.

"What a nightmare." It was a dream about what happened a week ago. She yawned and rubbed her eyes. The little bird hopped onto her legs cheerfully.

"Where's Hibari, little guy?" She gently poked its yellow feather.

"Training!" Hibird replied happily. "School time! School time!"

Hane's head slightly tilted and finally understood the situation. She grinned, grabbed Hibird, tossed it out of the window and shut the window tightly.

'Thanks Dino-nii!' She lied down with a satisfied smile.

* * *

"Using whips is all about accurate control of force. It's easy to hit yourself for beginners, so practice with this first." Dino gave Hane a piece of rope. "Try to hit the centre with it."

Hane carefully gave it a go. The rope hit Dino.

"Owwww!" Dino rubbed his cheek in pain.

"I'm sorry, Dino-nii!" Hane apologized and gave it another go. This time, she hit the board but was far from the centre.

Hane never liked trainings but Dino forced (begged, actually) her to practice for another two hours as it was Reborn's order. Just as she wanted to take a nice shower back home, she got Tsuna's phone call.

They were anxiously searching for Lambo. The notorious assassin squad could be anywhere and that kid in cow-suit had no self-control. Well, he was only five.

Hane didn't know that the day she'd been wishing never to come was right around the corner.

She was rushing along the unfamiliar streets, towards Tsuna and his family when she heard that loud voice. Then she saw a bunch of bangs and an evil grin. The blonde had grown much taller.

Finally she saw his red irises.

It had been quite a while. She could only remember their special features, but could not exactly recall their face. Yet she was quite sure that there was no scar on his face. Nor was there so much hatred and bitterness.

Tears gradually filled her eyes. She held her hand against her mouth and mumbled his name.

"Xanxus-nii..."

He heard her. He turned and saw her face. There was slight perplex on his face, but then he linked the white hair and violet eyes to someone from his memory.

"**Piuma...?" If someone was looking closely enough, he might see a rare bit of tender in those anger-driven eyes.

"Xanxus-nii." She repeated. Her breath rate slightly went up. She remembered clearly how she wailed day and night when the ninth generation guardians brought her away from the Varia castle and told her that she could never see them ever again. She remembered how she burst into tears when Ganauche III finally told her the truth, about how Xanxus betrayed his father and got frozen. She staggered towards him with both hope and fear. She was partly excited about seeing him again, but partly scared that he no longer held back his anger for her.'

Xanxus' eyelids flickered. He moved one step forward and halted, struggling whether he should unveil his very slight sense of gentleness again.

Finally, he whispered with an apathetic expression, "Come here."

Hane hugged the muscular man(Tsuna: Hieeeee!), resting her cheek on his chest. Xanxus' right hand rose in awkwardness and touched her white hair, and his left hand wrapped around her back. Her hair was still soft and shiny, but she had grown so much taller. She was barely taller than his knee last time they met, but now she was at his shoulders. He could not embrace her with one hand anymore. It was like hugging a toy or a puppy in the past, but now he's hugging a woman, which he rarely did.

She was so happy for a few seconds, but then her heart raced as she thought of what he did. Should she ask him if it was true that he was behind "The cradle"? Should she persuade him not to fight Tsuna and his guardians? These struggles had been in her mind since the day she knew that she was going to meet the Varia again. She had had no idea how to resolve this. Emotionally, she wanted to stand on the Varia's side since she only met Tsuna a few days ago, but her rationality told her that Xanxus was wrong.

"Stand away for a while, little trash. I have to deal with those scums over there." Xanxus let go of her and pushed her aside, but Hane clutched his arm.

He looked at her in confusion when she took a deep breath and said, "Please don't hurt them, Xanxus-nii."

Xanxus' eyes narrowed, "What did you just say?"

"Please, they're my friends." Hane forced herself to continue.

Anger once again swarmed over Xanxus' mind. He felt a sense of betrayal. He fiercely glared at the girl, suppressed his anger, and ordered, "You don't want to get involved, little trash. Get out of this."

"I can't." Hane stood between Xanxus and Tsuna. Tears kept rolling off her cheeks but she kept on. "I don't want to see you guys fight. Could you just…..not hurt them? Please, its not your throne, Xanxus-nii."

"IT IS MY THRONE!" Xanxus roared and pulled out his gun, pointing it straight at Hane.

"Oi, Boss. Calm down!" Squalo rushed between Xanxus and Hane, and hid Hane behind his broad back again like he did nine years ago.

"One last chance, little trash. Either join my side or stay out of it, or I'll blow you apart."

Hane could only sob. She did not know what to do. She had expected this mess. She thought she could handle it but she couldn't.

"Xanxus, yamero*!" Tsuna, Gokudera and Gokudera all fetched their weapons and put up a defensive pose.

"Xanxus." Reborn hopped forward calmly. "We will fight you in the ring battles. Give Piuma some time."

Xanxus went silent for a moment, then returned the gun to his waist. He turned around and disappeared in the evening shadows.

*Taskete= Save me!

**Piuma=feather=Hane


End file.
